Actor Martin Landau gets animated in 'Frankenweenie'

In 1988, Martin Landau and his daughter Susie drove to Westwood to see a new movie called "Beetlejuice." When they returned to the parking lot, Landau leaned on the hood of his car and made a bold prediction: "I'm not familiar with that director, but I'm going to work with him one day."

Six years later, Landau did indeed work with that director, and Tim Burton directed Landau to the only Oscar-winning performance in a stellar career that has spanned nearly six decades. The actor portrayed Bela Lugosi in "Ed Wood," Burton's quirky homage to old Hollywood, starring Johnny Depp as the worst filmmaker who ever put moving images on a big screen ("Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Glen or Glenda" were just two of his many gems).

After winning an Academy Award under Burton's guiding hand, the actor was open to anything the director offered, and Burton responded with a voice-acting role (uncredited) in the 1999 film "Sleepy Hollow."

That was just a warm-up for Burton's first Disney film "Frankenweenie," a black and white, stop-motion animated movie based on a 1984 live-action short film that Burton made while he was a struggling young animator.

In the new 3D film, which opens Friday, Landau plays a scary but passionate science teacher with a thick Eastern European accent that Burton admits was inspired by one of his idols, Vincent Price. One of the science teacher's students is the brilliant young Victor Frankenstein, a loner whose best friend is his dog Sparky. When Sparky (SPOILER ALERT) meets a tragic end, the heartbroken youngster concocts a scientific experiment that brings the dog back to life.

We did mention that the boy's name is Victor Frankenstein, didn't we?

Landau, 84, is the co-artistic director (with director Mark Rydell) of Actors Studio West, but he started his career in New York, where he tried his hand at acting after working at the New York Daily News as an illustrator.

He worked many years in the theater before making his big-screen debut with Gregory Peck in the 1959 war film "Pork Chop Hill." He has appeared in many movies, including two Oscar-nominated performances in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Tucker," but he is probably best known for his three-year stint on the classic TV show "Mission: Impossible." He starred on that series with his then-wife Barbara Bain.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER:What was it about watching "Beetlejuice" with your daughter that made you realize that you wanted to work with this relatively unknown director (it was Burton's second feature film after "Pee Wee's Big Adventure")?

MARTIN LANDAU: I admired everything about it. I just loved the imagination. It was very visceral, and I could tell that the actors had been given a great deal of freedom by the director.

Q.When Tim called you for "Ed Wood," did you remember that conversation with your daughter in 1988?

A. I did, but six years later, I knew exactly who he was. By then, he was TIM BURTON (laughs). That's why it took him so long to make "Frankenweenie." In 1984, he wasn't TIM BURTON yet. It took almost 30 years for him to become big enough to get this done.

Q.When you were working on "Ed Wood," was Burton the director you hoped he would be?

A. He was terrific. But good directors don't really direct. They create a playground for you. Marty Ritt (Martin Ritt, director of "Norma Rae") once told me that 90 percent of directing is casting. Cast the right person, open the door and let him play.

Q. Isn't Woody Allen like that as well?

A. Woody doesn't direct at all.

Q. That's news to me.

A. Seriously; he says that all the time. He doesn't know how to direct. He says he hires you to do your job, and then he fires you if you can't. On "Purple Rose of Cairo," he started with Michael Keaton, who worked for three weeks, and then he let him go. He couldn't use any of it. Then Eric Roberts came in, and worked for 10 days, and then Woody let him go, too. A third actor came in, but I can't remember who that was. And, finally, he got Jeff Daniels.

Q. I didn't realize Woody worked that way.

A. I had a different brother in "Crimes and Misdemeanors" for the first three days. Woody knows what he wants, but he doesn't direct. He lets you completely on your own. He doesn't want to talk about the movie. He'll talk about the Knicks, about hockey, about anything. If the circus is in town, he'll tell you how much he hates clowns. Anything to not talk about directing.

Q.As an actor, do you like a director like that?

A. Oh yeah, I haven't been directed in 30 years.

Q.Without a director, how do you approach playing a character?

A. I've never met two people who were exactly the same, so I look at the character's physiology, like where he comes from and what he sounds like. For instance, where I grew up in Brooklyn, all the Irish guys sounded like this (slips into thick Irish accent). The Italians are different (with Italian accent). The trouble with characters today is the writers. They have all the characters speaking the same way. The way a character sounds is so important to how you're going to play him.

Q.Andthat brings us to the character in "Frankenweenie." You play the science teacher Mr. Rzykruski with a thick accent. What went into creating that character?

A. The script said he was European, but not Russian, not Hungarian, not Czech, not Spanish. He was European. I figured he came from Slobovia, which is where the Slobs come from.

Q.What is a Slobovian accent?

A. It's a generic, made-up accent. It's everything, but nothing. That's what Tim wanted. I could tell that's what Tim wanted from the script. When he said "European," that meant he didn't want him to be from any specific place.

Q.Did winning the Oscar mean anything special to you or were you pretty jaded by then?

A. I had been nominated a couple of times before, and I had been favored to win both times, but didn't win it. This time, I thought I was being set up for the biggest disappointment of my life. I had won every award leading up to the Oscars. I won the Golden Globe, the first SAG award ever given out, the Los Angeles film critics, the New York film critics, the Chicago film critics, the National Society of Film Critics, the American Comedy Award, and so on and so on. I figured people were so sick of me winning these awards and making speeches. I figured they wouldn't give it to me just so I'd stop giving speeches.

Q.Describe the moment of victory.

A. I was up against Samuel L. Jackson at every awards show, and I beat him out every time. When they announced my name at the Oscars, he had the only real reaction. He cursed on camera. And he still hates me to this day (laughs). We get along, but he hates me for beating him.

Q.What was your reaction?

A. I've never been so high, and so sober in my life. It's like an out-of-body experience.

Q.But it was important to you after all those years of acting?

A. If I were a writer, the Pulitzer Prize would be important to me. This is my profession, so an Oscar is important.

Q.You've been at this game for almost 60 years. How would you characterize your career right now?

A. I get a lot of scripts for characters who are described as the "old guy who grunts at the table and the young people make fun of." I won't do those roles. I look for roles where there is some kind of an arc to the story.

Q.Did you make any mistakes or miscalculations along the way?

A. Sure, but no regrets. I didn't want to do them at the time. I was offered the Gene Hackman role in "The Poseidon Adventure" four times, and I turned it down four times. I didn't want to do that movie. I called it the upside down boat. I had just left "Mission: Impossible" and I was hot. I wanted to do a more intimate piece. Yes, it was a big movie, but I didn't want to spend all that time in water.

Q.Was leaving "Mission: Impossible" after three years a mistake?

A. Bruce Geller (the show's creator) created that part for me, but I was only supposed to do the pilot. I had a lot of fun, but once again, no regrets. Gene Roddenberry came to me first to play Spock on "Star Trek," but I didn't want to play a character with no emotion. These were all big roles, but they weren't for me so there are no regrets.

Q.The decisions were right at the time?

A. They're always right. What you do is what you do, and your life takes the path it takes. I've been very fortunate. Jeez, I'm still acting.